Cardiovascular and ventilatory interactions in the facultative air-breathing teleost Pangasianodon hypophthalmus

Journal of Comparative Physiology B - All vertebrates possess baroreceptors monitoring arterial blood pressure and eliciting reflexive changes in vascular resistance and heart rate in response to...     

BaSIQS - basic scale on insomnia complaints and quality of sleep: reliability,norms, validity,and accuracy studies,based on clinical and community samples

This research focused on the Basic Scale on Insomnia Symptoms and Quality of Sleep (BaSIQS), formerly validated in undergraduates using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and aimed to expand internal consistency analysis, examine thoroughly its validity, and determine its clinical accuracy. Considering objective and subjective measures, recruiting non-clinical and clinical samples, this research implemented a comprehensive approach to examine convergent and discriminant validity, confirmatory factor analyses, and the BaSIQS sensitivity and specificity. The BaSIQS was filled out along with the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), questions on sleep-wake schedules, Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM) and Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18) by 1198 adults, 18–64 years old, plus another 30 who wore actimeters, recruited in community settings. A clinical group of 30 chronic insomnia disorder patients also participated. Cronbach alpha coefficient was 0.80. A two-factor structure was confirmed. The association between BaSIQS and ISI was large, whereas actigraphy correlations were medium or small. Medium to non-significant correlations were found concerning conceptually different self-report measures. Comparing the clinic and control groups, the former showed poorer sleep, with a large effect size. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed an area under curve = 0.9, and an optimal cut-off score >15. In conclusion, results on reliability, validity, and accuracy provide support to the utility of the BaSIQS both in community and clinical settings, for research and practical purposes.     

Exogenous expression of caveolin-1 is sufficient for hepatic stellate cell activation

Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) expression is increased in hepatic stellate cells (HSC) upon liver cirrhosis and it functions as an integral membrane protein of lipid rafts and caveolae that regulates and integrates multiple signals as a platform. This study aimed to evaluate the role of Cav-1 in HSC. Thus, the effects of exogenous expression of Cav-1 in GRX cells, a model of activated HSC, were determined. Here, we demonstrated through evaluating well-known HSC activation markers – such as α-smooth muscle actin, collagen I, and glial fibrillary acidic protein – that up regulation of Cav-1 induced GRX to a more activated phenotype. GRX^EGFP-Cav1 presented an increased migration, an altered adhesion pattern, a reorganization f-actin cytoskeleton, an arrested cell cycle, a modified cellular ultrastructure, and a raised endocytic flux. Based on this, GRX ^EGFP-Cav1 represents a new cellular model that can be an important tool for understanding of events related to HSC activation. Furthermore, our results reinforce the role of Cav-1 as a molecular marker of HSC activation.     

Follow-up assessment of patients with Pure Neural Leprosy in a reference center in Rio de Janeiro—Brazil

IntroductionPure Neural Leprosy (PNL) is a rare clinical form of leprosy in which patients do not present with the classical skin lesions but have a high burden of the disability associated with the disease. Clinical characteristics and follow up of patients in PNL are still poorly described in the literature.ObjectiveThis paper aims to describe the clinical, electrophysiological and histopathological characteristics of PNL patients, as well as their evolution after multidrug therapy (MDT).MethodsFifty-two PNL patients were selected. Clinical, nerve conduction studies (NCS), histopathological and anti-PGL-1serology were evaluated. Patients were also assessed monthly during the MDT. At the end of the MDT, all of the patients had a new neurological examination and 44 were submitted to another NCS.ResultsParesthesia was the complaint most frequently reported by patients, and in the neurological examination the most common pattern observed was impairment in sensory and motor examination and a mononeuropathy multiplex. Painful nerve enlargement, a classical symptom of leprosy neuropathy, was observed in a minority of patients and in the motor NCS axonal injuries, alone or in combination with demyelinating features, were the most commonly observed. 88% of the patients did not present any leprosy reaction during MDT. There was no statistically significant difference between the neurological examinations, nor the NCS pattern, performed before and after the MDT.DiscussionThe classical hallmarks of leprosy neuropathy are not always present in PNL making the diagnosis even more challenging. Nerve biopsy is an important tool for PNL diagnosis as it may guide therapeutic decisions. This paper highlights unique characteristics of PNL in the spectrum of leprosy in an attempt to facilitate the diagnosis and management of these patients.     

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Zephyranthes phycelloides (Amaryllidaceae,tribe Hippeastreae) from Atacama region of Chile

Sporadic rains in the Atacama Desert reveal a high biodiversity of plant species that only occur there. One of these rare species is the “Red añañuca” (Zephyranthes phycelloides), formerly known as Rhodophiala phycelloides. Many species of Zephyranthes in the Atacama Desert are dangerously threatened, due to massive extraction of bulbs and cutting of flowers. Therefore, studies of the biodiversity of these endemic species, which are essential for their conservation, should be conducted sooner rather than later. There are some chloroplast genomes available for Amaryllidaceae species, however there is no complete chloroplast genome available for any of the species of Zephyranthes subgenus Myostemma. The aim of the present work was to characterize and analyze the chloroplast of Z. phycelloides by NGS sequencing. The chloroplast genome of the Z. phycelloides consists of 158,107 bp, with typical quadripartite structures: a large single copy (LSC, 86,129 bp), a small single copy (SSC, 18,352 bp), and two inverted repeats (IR, 26,813 bp). One hundred thirty-seven genes were identified: 87 coding genes, 8 rRNA, 38 tRNA and 4 pseudogenes. The number of SSRs was 64 in Z. phycelloides and a total of 43 repeats were detected. The phylogenetic analysis of Z. phycelloides shows a distinct subclade with respect to Z. mesochloa. The average nucleotide variability (Pi) between Z. phycelloides and Z. mesochloa was of 0.02000, and seven loci with high variability were identified: psbA, trnS^GCU-trnG^UCC, trnD^GUC-trnY^GUA, trnL^UAA-trnF^GAA, rbcL, psbE-petL and ndhG-ndhI. The differences between the species are furthermore confirmed by the high amount of SNPs between these two species. Here, we report for the first time the complete cp genome of one species of the Zephyranthes subgenus Myostemma, which can be used for phylogenetic and population genomic studies.     

SIRT6 stabilization and cytoplasmic localization in macrophages regulates acute and chronic inflammation in mice

Acute and chronic inflammations are key homeostatic events in health and disease. Sirtuins (SIRTs), a family of NAD-dependent protein deacylases, play a pivotal role in the regulation of these inflammatory responses. Indeed, SIRTs have anti-inflammatory effects through a myriad of signaling cascades, including histone deacetylation and gene silencing, p65/RelA deacetylation and inactivation, and nucleotide‑binding oligomerization domain, leucine rich repeat, and pyrin domain‑containing protein 3 inflammasome inhibition. Nevertheless, recent findings show that SIRTs, specifically SIRT6, are also necessary for mounting an active inflammatory response in macrophages. SIRT6 has been shown to positively regulate tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) secretion by demyristoylating pro-TNFα in the cytoplasm. However, how SIRT6, a nuclear chromatin-binding protein, fulfills this function in the cytoplasm is currently unknown. Herein, we show by Western blot and immunofluorescence that in macrophages and fibroblasts there is a subpopulation of SIRT6 that is highly unstable and quickly degraded via the proteasome. Upon lipopolysaccharide stimulation in Raw 264.7, bone marrow, and peritoneal macrophages, this population of SIRT6 is rapidly stabilized and localizes in the cytoplasm, specifically in the vicinity of the endoplasmic reticulum, promoting TNFα secretion. Furthermore, we also found that acute SIRT6 inhibition dampens TNFα secretion both in vitro and in vivo, decreasing lipopolysaccharide-induced septic shock. Finally, we tested SIRT6 relevance in systemic inflammation using an obesity-induced chronic inflammatory in vivo model, where TNFα plays a key role, and we show that short-term genetic deletion of SIRT6 in macrophages of obese mice ameliorated systemic inflammation and hyperglycemia, suggesting that SIRT6 plays an active role in inflammation-mediated glucose intolerance during obesity.     

Seed response to temperature of Mexican cacti species from two life forms: an ecophysiological interpretation

The effect of seven different constant temperatures and five ranges of alternating temperatures on seed germination of seven species of cacti from Puebla, México was analyzed. Six cacti species germinated in a wide range of temperature. Columnar cacti were more tolerant to low temperatures and germinated in a wider range of temperature than barrel cacti. One of the barrel cacti studied (Ferocactus recurvus) only reached full germination at 25 °C . Temperature fluctuations did not produce significant effects on germination compared to the results obtained at constant temperatures. This may reveal differing ecophysiological adaptations with respect to temperature requirements during the establishment conditions for each life form. Columnar cacti may become established mainly under the shade of desert shrubs, whereas barrel cacti maybe can also become established in open areas, beneath the shade of small rocks or soil irregularities. In both cases, temperature fluctuations are attenuated by the shade, but mean temperatures may be higher in the second condition than beneath the shade of plants.     

HIV-1 Vif protein binds the editing enzyme APOBEC3G and induces its degradation

The viral infectivity factor (Vif) encoded by HIV-1 neutralizes a potent antiviral pathway that occurs in human T lymphocytes and several leukemic T-cell lines termed nonpermissive, but not in other cells termed permissive. In the absence of Vif, this antiviral pathway efficiently inactivates HIV-1. It was recently reported that APOBEC3G (also known as CEM-15), a cytidine deaminase nucleic acid-editing enzyme, confers this antiviral phenotype on permissive cells. Here we describe evidence that Vif binds APOBEC3G and induces its rapid degradation, thus eliminating it from cells and preventing its incorporation into HIV-1 virions. Studies of Vif mutants imply that it contains two domains, one that binds APOBEC3G and another with a conserved SLQ(Y/F)LA motif that mediates APOBEC3G degradation by a proteasome-dependent pathway. These results provide promising approaches for drug discovery.